Cotton Insect Pest Management , Agreement 13 - 589 TN

1) Moth Trapping. Despite the use of Bt-transgenic cotton on over 98% of the acreage in Tennessee, bollworm and tobacco budworm still compose an important pest complex. Bollworms may cause significant economic damage to Bt cotton fields, and the bollworm/budworm can be even more damaging to non-Bt cotton. More importantly, the threat of tobacco budworm infestations results in high adoption of Bt cotton. Resistance to pyrethroid insecticides in tobacco budworm populations makes distinguishing between budworm and bollworm infestations very critical in non-Bt cotton. Using a pyrethroid insecticide on a “worm” infestation which contains a significant percentage of tobacco budworms often results in serious economic losses.